Beyond the Unknown
by Tina Lang
Summary: A/U B/V Romance -- Can the love shared by Bulma and Vegeta defeat the greatest evil the universe has ever known?


Beyond the Unknown Prologue  
  
The clouds were violet on that fateful night.  
  
They filled the sky so completely that not even a peek of sun or moon or stars could be seen through that violet veil.  
  
The gods knew it was an omen. Their deaths were at hand.  
  
Just a few more hours until evil overtook the universe.  
  
Piccolo, King of the Gods, paced across the terrace of the gods' Golden Palace. The large palace, constructed many millennia before as a tribute to the gods, sat in a secluded meadow, far from any life forms that inhabited their chosen planet. Although technically the gods ruled over the universe, they had searched for many centuries before finding this peaceful planet, Chikyuu, and deciding to make it their permanent place of residence.  
  
The inhabitants of the small blue planet were kind and accepting, and very awed to have the gods choose their humble world as their abode. The Chikyuu- jins lavished gifts upon the gods, and in turn the gods lavished their favors upon those of their chosen planet.  
  
Chikyuu also had the benefit of being a very centralized location in the universe; travel to any other galaxy was fast and easy from the blue planet, making the errands of the gods that much more palatable.  
  
But recently, the state of things in the universe had gone terribly wrong.  
  
It all began when the forces of darkness combined under a single leader. Never before had a single being managed to get the creatures of the dark to stop squabbling among themselves and join together to fight the forces of goodness. However, this new leader, Tren'talla, was an incredibly mysterious and powerful person. No one knew from whence she came; she had appeared one day and immediately taken the role as leader of the daemons. She was an immortal, and yet no one had ever heard of her before. All they knew was that she was evil to the very core, and lusted for complete control over the universe.  
  
Soon, she would have her wish.  
  
Without any major threats to them in several thousands of years, the gods had grown lax. They settled down on Chikyuu, and barely bothered to even check on any of the other planets or galaxies in their domain. Had they held a bit more foresight, perhaps they would have been able to quell the stirring of evil in the far reaches of the universe. And perhaps, when Tren'talla united the forces of darkness under a single banner, the gods would not have been so helpless to stop her.  
  
Alas, although hindsight is 20/20, foresight is blind.  
  
The gods knew they were doomed. In a matter of hours, Tren'talla's dark forces would sweep down upon Chikyuu, destroying the planet-and the immortal gods that resided there.  
  
So, with only hours of life left to them, they had gathered at the Golden Palace, home to so many of their memories, in order to say goodbye, and to meet their fate . together.  
  
The terrace of the Golden Palace, where all the gods had gathered, was shaped in a semi-circle, jutting from the side of the palace. The floor shone gold in the sunlight, although at the moment it was dull, its light dimmed beneath the violet clouds. A golden railing trailed the outer edge of the entire terrace, except for a small set of stairs in the back that led down into the surrounding gardens. Several exotic trees, shrubs and plants were placed around the perimeter of the terrace, giving it the feel of paradise. Several benches also littered the golden terrace. Most of the gods were sitting upon these benches.  
  
Most, not all.  
  
Piccolo had not stopped his pacing since even before the clouds had gathered in the sky, blocking out the sun. Tien, the God of War, and Satan, God of Death, leaned against the palace wall, scowling, arms folded, poses and faces identical as they took comfort in a companionable silence. On a bench beneath a peach tree, an unusually serious Goku, God of Children, held his crying wife Chi Chi, Goddess of Fertility, against his strong body, in a futile attempt to console her. Meanwhile, Krillen and 18, the Messenger God and Hope Goddess, respectively, simply stared into each others eyes as the sat upon the railing, knowing that this would be the last time they would ever see each other. Gohan, God of Light and his wife Videl, Goddess of Love, had long since disappeared into the garden, to share their last, intimate farewell.  
  
Bulma was the only god not present. None of the other gods had any idea where she was; they assumed she had left them to spend her final moments with her mortal lover and son, who lived on the other side of Chikyuu. Even though only immortals were allowed to enter the Golden Palace, the gods would have made an exception for their beloved Bulma, Goddess of Technology, in order to have her with them as their final fate approached. But they had never allowed her to bring her mortal family here before; why would she assume that things had changed?  
  
And so the contingent of gods awaiting the inevitable on the terrace was incomplete.  
  
It would not remain so for long, however.  
  
Piccolo, for the first time in hours, stopped pacing and turned around to face the doorway that connected the terrace to the rest of the palace. He felt the presence of another immortal. Could it be .?  
  
Bulma came rushing through the doorway, a look of excitement in her bright, blue eyes.  
  
"Everyone, come here!" she told the other gods, gesturing for them to gather round. With multitudes of questions in their eyes, they did.  
  
"What is it, Bulma?" Piccolo asked, more harshly than he should have. "We only have a few hours left before Tren'talla's forces of darkness show up and kill us all. So make it quick!"  
  
Bulma glared at him, then smirked smugly. "You don't seem to understand, Piccolo," she told him confidently, "I've discovered a way to avoid our deaths!"  
  
The other gods all stared at her with disbelief. "But Bulma," Krillen began, confused, "that's not possible! We're far too weak right now to stand against the darkness that's coming for us. There's no way we can win!"  
  
Bulma shook her head. "You don't understand! This isn't about winning. At least . not yet." She took a step back from the small group, and began to pace, her movements mirroring Piccolo's actions from earlier. "You see, we're all going to die," she told the other gods frankly, "there's no way around that. But there is a way to prevent the darkness from taking out powers and using it to destroy the universe we worked so long and hard to create and nurture." She glanced over at her fellow gods, who watched her with intense interest, before continuing. "None of us want that bitch Tren'talla to succeed, and to gain control over the entire universe."  
  
"You've got that right," muttered 18 in a monotone voice.  
  
"However, if she comes here and succeeds in killing us all, she'll be able to absorb our ki, and increase her own power immensely. We've all seen her do that before-but with our ki, the ki of immortal gods, the results would be devastating! No one would be able to stop her in her quest for ultimate power. So what I propose is that we prevent her from absorbing our ki in the first place, thus thwarting her plans! As she is now, her power is enough that she would be able to gain control over parts of the universe, but she certainly wouldn't be able to destroy it, and she's smart enough not to spread herself too thin. So if we manage to keep her at her present state, then we'll have a stalemate, until we can return and finish her off!"  
  
"Slow down a minute," Piccolo growled. "What are you talking about? How can we prevent her from absorbing our ki? Only an immortal can kill an immortal- which means that she has to come here to Chikyuu and do the dirty work herself! And we all know that she's powerful enough as she is right now to kill each of us. And once she does, she will absorb our ki. There is no way to prevent it!"  
  
Bulma stopped her pacing and smirked at him with satisfaction. "That's why you made me the Goddess of Technology, Piccolo!"  
  
Piccolo frowned. "What does technology have to do with this?"  
  
"Everything!" Bulma exclaimed excitedly, and suddenly whipped a tiny blue gem out of nowhere. The other gods just stared at the gem.  
  
"Um, Bulma," Krillen said nervously, "That's just a rock. How is that going to help us?"  
  
Bulma snorted. "Don't be such an idiot, Krillen!" she yelled at him. "This is the key to our success!"  
  
Krillen just blinked.  
  
Bulma sighed, then held the gem up for them to inspect it. "Here's my plan. We all know that all beings in the universe reincarnate. Immortals, if killed, take longer for their souls to return to the world of the living. And gods take much longer. However, if we die, we will all eventually reincarnate. Are we agreed?" The other gods nodded, still not seeing where she was going with this.  
  
"Good. However, if Tren'talla succeeds and is able to destroy the universe, we will never be able to reincarnate, since there will be no world of the living to which our souls can reincarnate!" The gods nodded again. "So, what we need to do is prevent Tren'talla from getting our ki, which will stall her plan and buy us some time. Hopefully, it will be enough time to reincarnate. Sure, we'll probably be in mortal bodies, but we'll still be born with knowledge of our past lives buried deep down. And since we were all gods in a previous life-this life, that is-we will naturally be drawn together. And once we are drawn together," she wiggled the gem in her hand, "this little baby will release our powers back to us, and we will be able to stop Tren'talla once and for all!"  
  
Goku scratched the back of his head. "I still don't get it," he admitted sheepishly.  
  
Bulma sighed. "Look. We're all going to die in a few hours anyway. So I propose that we all store the last of our powers in this gem. It looks small, but it has the capacity to store far more ki inside this tiny space than any of us could even imagine possible! Without our ki, we'll die in a few hours anyway-but before Tren'talla can come and absorb it! So the universe will go on for thousands of years, the forces of darkness at an advantage, but not quite able to make the final push into dominance. So then we reincarnate, get the gem, release the power, and kick Tren'talla's slimy immortal ass! After that, it will take some time to put things back to rights, but hopefully we've learned our lesson, and won't ever get so lax as to let the forces of darkness pull a fast one on us again."  
  
Piccolo's ever-present scowl lightened a fraction. "You know," he said thoughtfully, "I think that your plan just might work!" The other gods nodded in agreement; no one ever dared to defy Piccolo.  
  
Just then, Gohan and Videl came up the steps from the garden to the terrace, and paused, blushing, when the saw everyone staring at the new arrivals.  
  
"Hey, guys," Gohan said, his face bright red as he scratched the back of his head, just as his father always did. "What's going on?"  
  
With a sigh of exasperation, Bulma explained her plan to the youngest gods. Nodding, they agreed to help out with the plan.  
  
"First though," Bulma said as she led the other gods through the halls of the palace to her basement laboratory, "I need to activate the barrier."  
  
"Barrier?" Piccolo asked.  
  
"Yeah. It's a barrier that combines ki and technology to create a forcefield that will prevent the destruction of Chikyuu. Since I have a mortal son, I know that my reincarnation will be a descendant of his. Therefore, I will pass the gem down through him, until it reaches my descendent here on Chikyuu. If Tren'talla destroys Chikyuu itself, the plan will all be for nothing, because the gem will never get passed down! So I have to prevent her from blowing this planet up in the first place." She looked behind her, seeing the concerned looks on the faces of her immortal family. "Don't worry!" she told them. "The plan will work perfectly! I'm sure it will go off without a hitch!"  
  
Piccolo just hmphed, but followed her into the basement lab, where she tinkered with a large machine until it began to hum softly.  
  
"There!" Bulma said, leading them to a separate machine on the other side of her cluttered lab. "Now, just sit in the chamber, there, and this machine will absorb your ki and store it inside the gem." She hooked the gem up to the machine, and then fiddled with the controls. "So, who's going first?"  
  
"I will." Satan stepped forward. Bulma could see the fear in his eyes, but behind that lay a deep-seated determination. No matter how arrogant or boastful he might be sometimes, or how cowardly, the gods could always count on Satan in a pinch. His bravery might not show up that often, but it was there, all the same.  
  
"Dad," Videl whispered, choking on her tears as she ran to her father to give him one last hug before he gave up his life in order to help preserve the existence of the universe.  
  
"Don't cry, Videl," he told his daughter, his own voice sounding hoarse with unshed tears. "We'll all be together again someday. You'll see your daddy again." His eyes locked with Gohan's. "Take good care of her."  
  
Gohan nodded, too choked up to say a word.  
  
After holding his daughter for a few more moments, Satan gently pushed her away and gave her a brave smile, which she shakily returned. He then climbed into the small, circular chamber connected to Bulma's machine.  
  
Bulma, masking the emotions that welled up inside her, connected several tubes and wires to Satan's wrist before closing and locking the translucent blue door of the small chamber. She slowly stepped up to the controls, and looked back at Satan.  
  
"Ready?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
Bulma pulled down on a large lever in the middle of the machine, and the beast came to life. A soft whirring sound emerged first, followed by the crackle of electricity. All the gods except Bulma took a step back as the chamber began to glow with a blue light. Satan's eyes widened within the chamber, just before his body went limp. His ki was visibly sucked from his body through the multitude of tubes and wires connected to him, and the gem itself glowed unnaturally bright as his ki was stored inside the tiny jewel.  
  
The entire process only took a few minutes; when almost all of his ki was gone, Bulma yanked the lever back up, and the machine slowly came to a halt. She quickly disconnected Satan from the machine, and the other gods were surprised to see that he was still alive when he emerged from the chamber.  
  
Satan, too, was surprised.  
  
He looked down at his hands in confusion. "I'm not dead?" he asked, looking at Bulma.  
  
She shook her head. "No, you're just mortal, and dying. You still have enough ki to sustain your body for a few more hours." Bulma grinned. "With any luck, we'll all be gone before Tren'talla even sets foot on this planet.  
  
Satan gave her a wobbly smile, before collapsing into a chair on the other side of the lab. He felt so tired .  
  
One by one, each god took the plunge, donating all their energy to the one tiny gem. Bulma was the last to go, and when she emerged, she plucked the gem from the machine and sealed it shut, so that there was no possible way the ki could escape, or be sensed from the outside. To a casual observer, it appeared as just a simple sapphire. To further this illusion, Bulma placed the stone in a gold setting on a chain, so that it looked like a normal pendant. She then placed it around her neck.  
  
"What are you going to do with it now?" Piccolo asked her gruffly.  
  
"I'm going to take it to my son," she replied in a soft, weary voice. "He'll pass it down through the generations, and eventually my reincarnation will be the one to possess it." She grinned. "She'll know what to do."  
  
Gohan frowned. "But even then, will we be able to set everything back to the way it was?"  
  
Bulma grinned. "Don't forget about the dragon balls! Our reincarnations can use those to fix things."  
  
"But if we're dead," Piccolo told her, "the dragon balls will cease to exist."  
  
"But when our future selves become gods again," Bulma replied calmly, "the dragon balls will return, and we'll be able to use them to make everything better." She winced as she felt a sharp pain within her. "Now, I'd better go," she told the others, "we definitely don't want Tren'talla getting her hands on this!"  
  
With a final farewell to her formerly immortal brethren, Bulma shot off into the air, flying as fast as her ki deprived body would take her to the home of her mortal lover. She had left herself with a little more ki than the others, because she knew she would need it to fly all the way across the planet.  
  
Even so, she barely made it to the door of her lover's beautiful mansion before collapsing from lack of strength.  
  
"Mama!" came a shout. Her son was beside her in an instant, holding up her head and gazing down at his weakened mother with wide eyes.  
  
"Trunks." Bulma smiled. "I have a present for you," she told him. Before she could say anymore, she began to cough violently.  
  
"Papa come quickly! Something's wrong with Mama!"  
  
She heard footsteps flying towards her with incredible speed, and felt herself being picked up and carried in strong arms. She closed her eyes, letting darkness envelop her, and snuggled closer to the warm strength.  
  
"Vegeta," she whispered softly.  
  
"Hush, Woman," came his reply, surprisingly tender. "Don't speak."  
  
She felt him carry her up a flight of stairs and into the room in which they had shared so many nights, so many memories. He gently laid her on their bed, and sat beside her, his strong hand stroking the side of her face.  
  
"What happened to you, Woman?" he rasped. She could hear the worry in his voice. She'd never told him her true identity; the fact that she was a goddess. He didn't even know her name, so he'd always called her 'Woman.' They'd never spoken of their love; he'd never questioned the fact that she came in and out of his life of her own free will, and even left their son to be raised primarily by him.  
  
Bulma didn't know exactly what it was, but she'd always been drawn to him. In a hundred different reincarnations, and a hundred different names, somehow she'd always found him. Her mortal lover. She would find him, only to watch as he grew old and died, leaving her alone again, until she felt the presence of his soul once more on the mortal plane. Then she would search him out, and the emotional journey of love and loss would begin anew.  
  
This life, however, had been different. She didn't know exactly what it was, but this time hadn't been like all the rest. She had borne him a son; to her surprise, the boy had turned out mortal. She had been incredibly shocked by that fact; even Satan's daughter, Videl, born of a mortal woman, had turned out to be a goddess. Yet her son had ended up mortal, though his ki was far greater than that of most mortals. Since she could not bring a mortal with her to the Palace, she had been forced to leave her son with his father. Surprisingly, Vegeta had not objected. When she had told him of the arrangements he had simply nodded, and accepted the responsibility.  
  
Sometimes, she almost thought that he knew the truth about her.  
  
She had to know.  
  
"Vegeta," she began, "do you know my name?"  
  
His hand stopped stroking her cheek, and she felt him sigh before he resumed his actions. "Yes, Bulma, I know."  
  
Just as she thought. "How long have you known?"  
  
She felt him lie down beside her, felt his breath caressing her cheek like a warm, masculine breeze. "Since the very beginning," he said, pulling her into his arms.  
  
Bulma snuggled as close to him as she could in his embrace. "Why did you never tell me that you knew?"  
  
"Would it have mattered?" he asked with a chuckle. There was something in his voice though; he knew far more than he was letting on. He knew that she was dying. And already he grieved for her.  
  
"No, it would not have mattered." She sighed, and tried to get closer to him, even though it was impossible; their bodies were already touching in every place imaginable. But even so, she still felt so cold. .  
  
"I've been with you before," she told him, suddenly needing to speak of herself, as she never had to him in any of his previous lives. "In previous lifetimes, I mean. Your previous lifetimes, that is. It's all been just the one for me." She let out a short laugh. "Do you know how painful it is, to watch the one person that you love the most grow old and die, while you stay young and beautiful forever? And to have to wait for years before his soul is reincarnated, and then wait even more until he comes of age?" Bulma giggled. "I was so impatient, you nearly drove me to pedophilia at times!" She sighed, and reached a hand up to caress his chiseled cheek. Her hand came away wet.  
  
"Don't cry," she whispered to him, opening her eyes to look at him, wiping the silent tears from his cheeks. Her vision had already begun to blur. She didn't have long now.  
  
"A great evil is about to descend upon us," she told him. "We . the gods could not defeat it. And so we gave up our lives, so that the universe might continue, and we will one day return to right all the wrongs that have been done." She touched the pendant that lay around her neck, and held up the gem that held the collective powers of the gods within. "You must give this to Trunks," she told her lover. "Tell him to pass it down among his family, from father to son, mother to daughter. And along with it, to pass down the legend; when a blue-haired girl is born as his descendent, one with a vast knowledge of technology, she is the one that will use this pendant, the Pendant of Isis, and extract its powers in order to save the universe from ten thousand years of evil." Bulma giggled. "I feel so silly, making up prophecies . but please, will you give it to him, and tell him all that I have said?"  
  
She felt Vegeta nod against her. "I will." His voice was gruff; he knew the end was nearing even as they spoke.  
  
"Vegeta," she whispered again. "Please . I won't see you again for another ten thousand years. In all your lives, you have never spoken the words to me, my love. Please, just this once."  
  
She felt his arms tighten around her, before relaxing. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Bulma."  
  
With a smile on her face, the Goddess Bulma died peacefully in the strong arms of her lover, Vegeta.  
  
  
  
Hey, everyone! I'd like to know what you think about this so far. It's the first time I've written anything as "ambitious" as this (I have a whole, looong story planned out), and I want to know what you think! Any comments/criticisms/flames/suggestions/whatever will be gladly accepted and appreciated! So please review! Thanks!  
  
Love, Tina 


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